On behalf of all the Avo’s, I would like to welcome baby Tristan into our world and the world of Avo. 

Becky came to visit us this afternoon with her new 6-day-old bundle of joy.  I think we were all amazed how she could be smiling and looking so fresh just a week after her c-section… but then we saw baby Tristan and realised that her smile was inevitable.  Just look at this photo.

Avo congratulates Becky and Kevin on their new beautiful baby boy!  We wish you many years of happiness with your newly expanded family.

In light of the previous article, I thought I’d post some ‘hot off the press’ client feedback on a new Team Leader programme that we ran for SAB last week. We were teaching SAB team leaders to practice what we preach. Just take a look at what they said…

• The course was brilliant and informative
• The world revolves around me! The right mind set, emotional intelligence will spin positive energy to those around and back! thanks
• Awesome, marvelous
• The material was very informative and very useful in my daily engagement with people
• It has been an eye opening course which allowed me to reflect on aspects of my personality
• World class leadership course
• The course made me do some introspection, I have now realized that everything starts with me.
• An eye opener into my personality and my team’s personalities. Useful course in managing people and dealing with people in general
• The trainer was able to effectively engage each and every one of us without making us feel inferior to the other. Every opinion mattered and was used effectively
  Captivating, awesome and engaging
• Great to learn with my peers!!

Well done Grant . Helping managers become better managers of people is the way to helping South African companies to build the resilience to survive tough times!!

Being a manager of a team or a team leader requires more now than it ever has in the past. 

There is a key element that can make or break team cohesion in today’s world of business… so which personality trait do the future leaders need to have in order to survive in this economy?  Jules explains just that in her new article that has graced the Star Workplace today.

Click on the picture to read more.

I have always known that I am more than just proud of South Africa - I am EXTREMELY passionate! If you ask me why, I would struggle to find the start point and the end. But on 14 June, at the first ever Confederation Cup on African soil, gave me the chance to prioritise my points of pride. Standing in the Ellis park stand with 47 000 other South Africans (only about 1000 Iraqi fans), the sounds of vuvuzelas, the viberant splash of colour and diversty that surrounded me-my overwhelming love for SA took over, confirming to me the things I love most about us!

Unity! After all said and done, the not-so-hot performace that Bafana Bafana showed us, the constant change of coaches and money disputes-all leading to doubtful, gatvol fans. I wondered if there would be a Bafana fan in the stands. But today, the nation united, no questions asked. Each fan taking ownership of the fact that this was a new dawn for Africa. No matter what, South Africa was going to stand behind their boys, and boy did they do that! We were present, charasmatic and stood up to the challenge as a nation.

Courage! The self-belief that our nation has is fantastic! Who would have even imagined that after just 15 years of democracy that we would be hosting the the biggest sporting tournament in the world?! Today, I experienced a confident nation that had overcome the insecurities of others and focused on the goal: Being alive with great possibility! Some points: Our stadiums are not ONLY ready but they are really top notch (ranked one of the best in the world),  the service from on-the-ground volunteers was amazing, security is tight and every single person (worker or fan) had a beautiful Mzansi smile on their faces. The demographics at the match were those of a rainbow nation!! The pride of the day saw both Springbok and Protea supporters come in droves! 

Fun! We know how to laugh at other and ourselves. We experience bursts of joy from small things, you know, boerewors roll and beer and boy did we share our joy with our visitors-making them feel welcome!

There is so much I love about our country, one of which is the freedom that we now experience, the freedom and opportunity for me to learn from yester-year heartache and at the same time watch that very generation create opportunities for us to reconcile and laugh together! As we approach Youth Day-June 16-I urge us take on our individual responsibilty to honour the bravey and courage of the students on that day in 1976, but also to confidently look forward at the bright future that stands before us. The Confederations Cup and World Cup are just two more ways the world have shown their belief in us, it’s now up to us!

As of today I’ve officially been here a year, and what a year it’s been! 

I’ve experienced 365 days of learning, 365 days of adventure and 365 days of diversity all rolled into 365 days of happiness.

So on my 1 year anniversary, I want to thank all you Avo’s for accepting me into the family, I hope that I have met all of your expectations; it’s been an honour to work side by side such exceptional people.

If I was wearing a hat I would take it off for each one of you, metaphorically speaking.

I hope that the years that lie ahead of me will incite many more challenges for me, as I will gladly tackle them with a smile on my face.  I trust that new experiences and growth will keep me going. I hope that I can celebrate many more anniversaries with Avo.

As Winston Churchill once said:
We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.